I sent a note to the Coloradoan after reading Josh's post
here. The photo featured in the article did indeed seem to be showing that Musgrave, supporter of the Hate Amendment, had broken the law, as well as the soldier with her breaking military regulations. I don't have a link to the law, but I did lift the link from JMM's article to the
military regs.
The text and their response below the fold. I'll post if they respond further.
My note:
Link
There's a picture here of CO Rep Marilyn Musgrave introducing a US
Marine in uniform to speak at a partisan event. They are both breaking
the law, and military regulations, as noted here:
DoD regs
I'm curious as to the Coloradoan's policy of printing criminal acts
uncritically.
Thanks,
garth
They got back to me about ten minutes later:
Garth -
Thank you for the heads up. We had no clue about that directive from the
DoD. We will look into this. Thank you again.
Amanda Koubek-Keller
Fort Collins Coloradoan
P.O. Box 1577
Fort Collins, CO 80522
(970) 224-7831
www.coloradoan.com
Well, they ran a follow-up
here. It does not say specifically that they broke the rules, though they should have.
I sent this:
Hello:
I was one of the bloggers who wrote in to your paper to ask about the Musgrave event. I am happy to see that there was a follow-up to the story...too often these days things just fall down the memory hole.
I did have one issue with your article, though: in it, you note that the military codes prohibit "participation" in partisan events. Not speaking, not endorsing, not anything, simply "participating". Thus, I think even showing up to a openly Republican event in uniform is in violation. The GOP has been using soldiers as props whenever they can, look at W's speeches.
I'd simply like it if The Coloradoan would take that final step away from reporting-by-stenography and say "this was a violation of military regulations", as it so very evidently was.
Thanks,
garth
I'll see if anything more comes along. Doesn't it seem like there was a time when a violation like this would have been a big deal? And Bush using soldiers to prop up his robber baron act would have brought scorn upon his head? Ay yi yi.